By Sevda Aydın and Aziz Oruç
A ban imposed on the six journalists detained yesterday morning in Izmir to meet with their lawyers was finally lifted this morning. After meeting with their lawyers, the journalists reported being handcuffed in reverse during their detention. Lawyer Muhammed Ünsal from the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) Legal Unit, who met with the journalists, mentioned that Delal Akyüz experienced severe neck pain due to forceful squeezing by the police while in custody.
In the police raid conducted by the Izmir Police Department on the morning of February 13, 2024, journalists Semra Turan, Delal Akyüz, and Tolga Güney from Mezopotamya Agency (MA), Melike Aydın from JINNEWS, Cihan Başakçıoğlu from Gazete Duvar, and Fatma Funda Akbulut, a press worker of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), were detained. The initial 24-hour ban on meetings with lawyers was lifted this morning (February 14).
Reverse handcuffing of journalists
The lawyers, after meeting with the detained journalists, reported that reverse handcuffs were used during the arrest. Ünsal shared that Mezopotamya Agency journalists Delal Akyüz and Tolga Güney were forcibly bent forward during their arrest, leading to a scuffle when the journalists reacted. He mentioned severe neck pain for Akyüz due to forceful squeezing by the police and shared that police officers recorded the event with cameras while forcibly bending the heads of the journalists forward to put them into the police vehicle.
Restriction of the right to defense
Ünsal noted that confiscating the digital materials of the journalists violates their right to news confidentiality. He also stated that searching the journalists' homes, detaining them, and keeping the file confidential all amount to restrictions on their right to defense.
Due to the confidentiality order on the file, lawyers, and even the police officers, have limited information about the accusations against the journalists and the reasons for their detention. "Some officers said the confidentiality would last 24 hours, others said 72 hours. As lawyers, we also do not know the outcome of the file," Ünsal said.
Ünsal also reported that the journalists are being held at the Izmir Branch of the Anti-Terror Police (TEM) and that no information has been provided regarding when their statements will be taken.
